Centeno, Roda brace for World Juniors 9-Ball meet

Promising cue masters Chezka Centeno and Jeffrey Roda earned slots to the 2014 World Juniors 9-Ball Championships scheduled on November 19 to 24 in Shanghai, China.

Centeno got an automatic berth to the world meet after topping the 2014 Asian Pocket Billiard Union (APBU) Asian Junior Pool Championship held at the Ji Hsien Pool Club in Taiwan.

The 16-year-old Centeno demolished Wang Wan-Ling of Taiwan, 6-0, in the finals of the girls’ 9-ball event. She defeated Cho Bing Sum of Hong Kong in the semifinals, 6-2; Ku Cheng-Chin of Taiwan in the quarterfinals, 6-3; Chen Ya Hsin of Hong Kong in the second round, 6-1; and Chu Sum of Hong Kong in the first round, 6-1.

Roda, on the other hand, pocketed the bronze medal in the boys’ 9-ball event, good enough to join Centeno in Shanghai.

In the first round, Roda bowed to Liao Yu-Shiang of Taiwan, 4-8, and was relegated to the losers’ bracket of the tournament, which employed a double-elimination format. In the losers’ side, he scored successive wins against Yi Kin Ling of Hong Kong, 8-3; Hsu Jui-An of Taiwan, 8-7; and Robbie James Capito of Hong Kong, 8-4, to advance to the semifinals.

Roda, however, lost to Aloysius Yapp of Singapore, 7-8, to settle for third place.